


Worth It

by cindergal



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, experiments by evil scientists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 19:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2664059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cindergal/pseuds/cindergal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Any amount of pain would be worth it, just to feel Kieren’s touch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth It

_He wants to move, but he can’t. He struggles against the straps that hold him down, but it’s useless. He can’t even turn his head. But that’s not even the worst of it. The sounds are the worst part. He can’t see what they’re doing to him, but he can hear it. The whirring of a saw, the scraping of metal against bone, and the sizzle of burning flesh. And then there are the screams, which he realizes, with dawning horror, are his own._

_“Stop! Please! I can feel it, now. I can feel it! Oh God, please stop…”_

 

Simon wakes with a jolt, sitting up in bed, chest heaving. He feels Kieren next to him, moving closer, his hand landing gently on Simon’s shoulder. “You’re okay, Simon” he says quietly. “It’s okay. You’re here, with me.” Simon nods, still not sure of enough of his own voice to speak, and reaches up to cover Kieren’s hand with his own.

“Was it the bad one? Or the very bad one?” Kieren asks.

Simon swallows. “Just…just the bad one tonight.” The very bad one involves his mother, and he doesn’t allow himself to go any further with that thought.

Kieren moves even closer, pressing his chest to Simon’s back and hooking his chin over his shoulder. Simon can feel his warmth through the thin t-shirts they wear. Kieren seems to grow warmer every day, or maybe that’s just Simon’s ever-increasing affection for him. Simon, too, can feel himself changing, though he’s not as far along as Kieren. But sometimes it’s as if he can actually feel the nerve endings regenerating and the synapses firing. He closes his eyes and relaxes back against Kieren as his hands slide over Simon’s shoulders and down his arms before wrapping around his middle. Holding him close, holding him together.

“You want to talk about it?” His lips are soft against Simon’s neck.

“Oh, you know, just the usual,” Simon says, trying to make light. “Torture, torment, mad scientists having their evil way with me.”

“So same old, same old,” Kieren says, playing along. His mouth moving against Simon’s skin sends tingles down his arm.

“Boring, really.” They both try to laugh, but it’s a sad attempt.

Kieren’s voice is soft in his ear. “The nightmares, the flashbacks, they’re worse since you’ve started changing, aren’t they?” He leaves unspoken the fact that perhaps his own are as well.

Simon shrugs. “A bit, yeah.” He turns within the circle of Kieren’s arms and brushes sleep-mussed hair out of his eyes. He supposes the increasingly intense dreams – flashbacks – whatever they are - are just his mind’s way of dealing with these changes, or maybe even a physical reaction to all of this new stimuli. His brain will adjust eventually, and the nightmares will probably lessen. Or not. They're kind of in new territory here. Who knows what will happen to them? Not the treatment center, that's for certain.

Kieren is looking at him with such concern, though, that he doesn’t want to worry him further. All he wants to do is take that frown off his face. “Hey, I’m fine,” he says, and gives Kieren what he hopes is a confident smile. He slides a hand behind Kieren’s neck and brings him close, kissing him deeply, those nerve endings and synapses going absolutely haywire, now. “Besides,” he says after he breaks the kiss, enjoying the slightly dazed expression on Kieren’s face, “it’s worth it.” Any amount of pain would be worth it, just to feel Kieren’s touch. Kieren smiles back and kisses him again, and Simon hopes that means he thinks so, too.


End file.
